Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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Don Byron

  • Nu Blaxploitation [Blue Note, 1998] Dud
  • Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker [Blue Note, 2006] B+

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Nu Blaxploitation [Blue Note, 1998] Dud

Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker [Blue Note, 2006]
First: Sounds grrreat. Then: Who needs this arty clarinetist with Walker's gutbucket sax a click away? Finally: Terrific modern jazz-funk record à la Hank Crawford, with just enough just-funky-enough vocals to counteract Byron's smooth tone on sax. Check the Benny Benjamin four-four that drives the original "Shotgun" on Walker's Millennium Collection or Ultimate Collection, then the Rodney Holmes syncopations beneath Byron's version. Benjamin is a titan and Holmes isn't. But Holmes has heard James Brown, and the change'll do you good. B+